Actions

An action is triggered by an event, such as a click. When triggered, an action causes one of eight different effects. In the case of the Set State action, the effect can be reverted by a second trigger.

Important Uses for Set State Actions

Set State actions are useful when you want to allow multiple sources to trigger the same event. You cannot bind two properties to the same trigger, but you can create two Set State actions, or two State blocks, each of which invoke the same trigger.

onMouseEnter & Leave: Moving the cursor over the object invokes the action. Moving the cursor away from the object reverts the action.

onDragOver & Leave: Dragging an object over the object invokes the action. Releasing the mouse button or moving the cursor away from the object reverts the action. In order to use onDragOver & Leave, you must enable the draggableAdvanced property of the object to be dragged, and you must enable the droppable Advanced property of the object that owns the action.

How to Specify an Event via a Binding

These steps allow you to specify any event that belongs to any component. These steps use the Advanced Properties panel, but you can also find various event properties in the dataflow or the Property Inspector.

To use an Advanced property, select the component that owns the property, and then select the Advanced tab behind the Property Inspector.

Hover over the event, and double-click the blue dot, as shown in the following image.

Action Sequences

Create a binding from the onFinished or onComplete event of the first action to the Invoketrigger of the next action.

A sequence of events

Some action types do not have an onFinished or onComplete event.

How to Edit a Set State Action by Recording

Set State actions change the properties of one more more elements. To specify the paths and values of these properties, you record property changes.

Note

In order for a Set State action to revert properly, the property must have a value set before the action is invoked. The set value can be null or No Fill. A filled-in blue dot indicates that a property has been set.

The following image shows a property set to No Fill:

The following image shows a property that has not been set:

Tip

Instead of recording, you can set paths and values using the State block in dataflow.

To record a Set State action:

In the Actions panel, hover over the action, and then click Record, as shown in the following image.

While you are recording, a red flashing rectangle surrounds the document window.

Use the Outline and Property Inspector to change all of the properties that you want to change when the action is triggered and revert when the action is invoked.

Click Finish Recording State, as shown in the following image.

Tip

You can use the Duration property to animate the change over a number of seconds.

How to Bind to the Value in a Set State Action

These steps allow you to create a Set State action that changes a property to a bound value instead of an absolute value.

How to Edit a Set State Action via the Advanced Popup

After creating a Set State action, you can edit it via a special popup.

You can open this popup via the dataflow window or the Actions panel. To open the popup, click the i icon for the property, as shown in the following image.

Note

The Revert trigger causes the property to change to the value that appears as original in the Advanced Popup. At the time of reversion, the original property overrides the property value set in the Property Inspector. If you change the property after creating the action, you might not see the property you expect upon reverting. If that happens, edit original or re-create the action.

This popup lets you edit the original and changed property values, as well as the following animation preferences:

easing and easingBack: Specifies the rate of change over time for animation when invoking and reverting, respectively. The value of easing or easingBack can be one of the following:

Linear: The animation's rate of change is constant.

Ease In: The animation starts slowly and accelerates linearly as it executes.

Ease Out: The animation starts with a fast change rate and decelerates linearly as it executes.

Ease In Out: The animation starts slowly, accelerates linearly, and then decelerates linearly as it executes.

Cubic In: The animation starts slowly and accelerates cubically as it executes.

Cubic Out: The animation starts with a fast change rate and decelerates cubically as it executes.

Cubic In Out: The animation starts slowly, accelerates cubically, and then decelerates cubically as it executes.

Elastic In: The animation's rate of change starts on a small-amplitude sine wave. The sine wave grows as the animation executes.

Elastic Out: The animation's rate of change starts on a large-amplitude sine wave. The sine wave decays as the animation executes.

Elastic In Out: The animation's rate of change starts on a small-amplitude sine wave. The sine wave grows and then decays as the animation executes.

Bounce: The animation starts with a fast change rate, and decelerates to zero with an effect similar to a ball falling and bouncing on a floor.

strength and strengthBack: Affects the differential or the change rate of the easing or easingBack function. A value of 0.5 is the default. Values below 0.5 decrease the differential or the change rate, making the easing appear less pronounced. Values above 0.5 increase the differential or the change rate, making the easing appear more pronounced.

How to Edit an Open Web Action

Open Web actions open the specified URL.

When you edit an Open Web action:

Use a full URL, including http:// or https://.

(Optional) Use the Target property to specify where the file should open.

See an online reference like this one for more information about targets.

How to Edit a Download File Action

Download File actions download the specified file.

When you edit a Download File action:

The file can be a path relative to the root of this project, or it can be an absolute path to a file outside the project.

For a file in this project, drag the file from the Project panel to the Input property.

For Type, specify path to download the file at the path specified by the Input field. Specify data to download a file that contains the object or string in the Input field.

(Optional) For File Name, specify the name and extension that the file should have when it is downloaded.

How to Edit a Play Sound Action

Play Sound actions play the specified sound asset.

When you edit a Play Sound action:

The URL can be a path relative to the root of this project, or it can be an absolute path to a file outside the project.

For a file in this project, drag the file from the Project panel to the Input property.

How to Edit an Open Page Action

Open Page actions open the specified .dg5 file. They can be used to create Back and Forward buttons.

When you edit an Open Page action:

For Destination, choose back if this is a Back button, forward if this is a Forward button, or dashboard if this button should open a specific .dg5.

For Dashboard, enter the .dg5 file path.

Set Self to TRUE if the page should open in this tab, FALSE if it should open in a new window or tab.

How to Edit a Close Page Action

Close Page actions close the current .dg5 file.

A Close Page action's only editable properties are its invoke trigger and whether or not it is enabled.

How to Edit a Logout Action

Logout actions log the user out of DGLux5.

A Logout action's only editable properties are its invoke trigger and whether or not it is enabled.

How to Edit a Data Action

Data actions execute available actions on the data source.

To edit a data action:

To specify an action, right-click the data node or metric to display a list of actions, then click the action you want to use, and drag it to drag data action here in the Actions panel, as shown in the following image.

The parameters for the action appear in the Actions panel and the dataflow, as shown in the following image. These parameters depend on the action that you chose.

For descriptions of these commands, see an event handlers reference like this one.

onClickOn and onClickOff are events that can work together to invoke and revert an action.

A command with an ampersand (&), such as onClickOn & Off, assigns events to both the Invoke and Reverttriggers, if the action is a Set State action. A command with no ampersand assigns an event to the Invoketrigger only.

Action Dataflow Blocks

Dataflow blocks automatically appear in the dataflow when you create an action. You can use these blocks to edit your action.